Odisha Finance Minister demands Additional non-rebatable Cess under GST

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley meets the Finance Ministers of States today to discuss the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill. Ministers of other States, senior officials of Government of India, Secretaries and Commissioners of Commercial Taxes of the States were present in the occasion.

Speaking on GST Bill, the Finance Minister of Odisha, Pradip Kumar Amat said that, “Odisha is in favour of GST, which will reform the taxation system in the country. It will help in seamless movements of goods and services across the states and in growth of economy and industries. However, there are some issues for deliberations in the interest of the States”.

“Odisha is a mineral rich state and a major share of minerals are either sold for consumption in other states or used in production of goods which are sold to other States. Under GST the destination principle applies and the mineral producing State where pollution may be localized does not get any part of the revenue. It is only the consuming State that gets the tax revenue whereas the pollution is suffered by the citizens of the producing State. Therefore, taking into consideration the adverse environmental impact, we propose for the levy of an additional non-rebatablecess under GST which the State may be empowered to levy subject to suitable framing of guidelines after consultation in the proposed GST council. There should be a new entry in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution, State List as 54B “Other Polluting goods and services to be notified by G.S.T council”, Pradip Kumar Amat stated.